Frankly, can you imagine if Corzine heard it from all those bus riders? The ones that make up an entire city of Cincinatti? If he did, this would be the easiest decision he'd ever have to make.

The Port Authority's board includes six members appointed by the governor of New York, and six appointed by the governor of New Jersey. You can contact Governor Corzine at this web page, and Governor Paterson here.

More than that, though, I think that it would help for Corzine to hear from organizations in NJ and their membership. Every environmentalist or anti-sprawl organization in the northern half of the state should be in favor of discouraging people to drive to Manhattan. Letters from them to the Governor and local papers would be a big help. The same for Orange and Rockland counties in NY, which is where any potential opposition on this side would come from.

unless i'm mistaken, i think there is talk of renovating the gwb terminal which may increase bus capacity. should that become a reality, i don't know if there will be any accommodations made on the bridge itself. i would add that for this to work, the mta would have to improve it service on the A line dramatically because, as it is is, its not going to be able to handle the extra load of folks crossing over the bridge and needing a way to get downtown.

The Port Authority does have a study to increase the bus capacity on the Lincoln Tunnel approach in the morning. That study is here:

http://www.panynj.gov/CommutingTravel/tunnels/pdfs/XBLnwslttr9-06R1.pdf

The study seems to recommend "operational improvement 1", which would designate an eastbound regular traffic lane in the morning to buses and HOVs. The study is moving very slowly however (2002, 2003?), and Port Authority officials say the agency has budget constraints. Also, that improving bus capacity depends on having a new place in Manhattan to park, load, and unload buses.

Yes, there were post 9/11 HOV2+ restrictions but they were removed in April 2002 for no apparent reason. Some history of that is here:

http://www.tstc.org/bulletin/20020422/mtr36201.htm

Is there any evidence to suggest that P (#2) is correct? Has Port Authority ever given reasons for not increasing the number and hours of dedicated bus lanes at the Tunnels?

There may have been a temporary increase in dedicated bus lanes at the tunnels following 9/11--does anyone know if that was the case, and whether there are statistics from that experiment that can be used to bring pressure for more dedicated bus lanes?